PEORIA — Not everybody likes to go to a bar or a riverboat casino to gamble, Dan Whalen said. That’s the purpose video-gambling cafés serve.

“It’s a nice, comfortable, secure, clean place to go,” the Peorian and would-be cafe manager said Monday. “You don’t have to worry about loud music and a bunch of guys there all day, drinking.”

Possible regulation of the new-breed gambling houses apparently will account for a few nights of Peoria City Council discussion.

During its meeting Tuesday night at the Peo­ria County Courthouse, the council is expected to consider a staff request for a policy session Aug. 26 re­garding video-gambling cafés. Some council members have expressed distress about proliferation of the cafés, which contain five video-gambling terminals but often sell little more than beer and wine.

Votes regarding approval of sites for three video-gam­bling cafés are on the coun­cil agenda Tuesday. They probably will be deferred until the night of the policy session, City Manager Pat­rick Urich said.

The council already has approved two video-gam­bling cafe sites. Emma’s Eatery, 3311 N. Sterling Ave., is open. Dotty’s is under de­velopment in a strip mall at 3125 N. University St.

Whalen said he and his wife, Coleen, are to manage two video-gambling loca­tions up for approval Tues­day. Called Annie’s, they are to be located at 6926 N. University St. and 8414 N. Knoxville Ave.

Annie’s Quad Cities-based owner, Chris Smith, is a friend of the Whalens. Her establishments are to sell alcohol but no food. At-large Councilman Eric Turner, the city’s deputy liquor com­missioner, objects to that.

Whalen said he under­stands Turner’s point, but Turner and others in Peo­ria might not understand Annie’s business plan.

“We don’t want to sell food. There are a ton of really good restaurants in town,” said Whalen, a line­man for an electrical utility. “We want to be an option when they’re done eating.”

Limits on the number of video-gambling cafés in Peoria are understandable, Whalen said. But he objects to other proposed restric­tions. Included are food and booze sales requirements and a waiting period of six months to a year before video gambling is allowed.

“When you do that, you’re going after one certain aspect of this busi­ness,” Whalen said. “If you let in a few (cafés), see how it goes and go from there. I don’t think the sky is going to fall.”